Ferroelectric ceramic-polymer composites

Ferroelectric ceramic-polymer composites as new materials for tunable and flexible microwave sensors

Research projects

Time-frame of the project: 21.12.2011 – 20.12.2014

The main goal of the project was to develop tunable and flexible microwave sensors based on new ferroelectric ceramic-polymer composites. The first stage of the research was a selection of components for ceramic slurry which enable to obtain thin tapes by tape-casting with the use of appropriately selected polymers. Tape casting is a casting process used to manufacture ceramic tapes from ceramic slurry. This forming technique is widely used in the production of thin flexible tapes often connected into layers.

The ceramic powder showing ferroelectric property used in the study was barium strontium titanate BST. Permittivity and tunability of all fabricated ferroelectric tapes were measured in microwave and sub-terahertz range. Developed composites have tunability up to several dozen percent, depending on the composition.

The last stage of the work was to design tunable spatial and multilayer structures. They were consisted of developed thin composite films and suitable conductive lines for polarization of ferroelectric material. Research has shown that developed ferroelectric materials could be used to build, e.g. phase shifters, filters and antennas operating in the sub-THz frequency range.